Winter activities | Outside The Lines

Winter is quickly approaching. Some appreciate this season but most people seem to dread cold weather. With blustering temperatures, leaving the house is hard and developing “cabin fever” is likely. To ward off such an effect, it is important to remain creative.

Fun, artistic activities are great for cold weather. If snow skiing and sledding don’t sound appealing, making a snowman ought to be enjoyable. Or, try this cold weather craft: color icicles.

The best news about coloring icicles is that this activity can be done outside or inside. Segmation SegPlay PC offers a variety of icicle pattern sets. This program can be played in the comfort of a warm home.

Another option is to bundle up, go outside, and dye actual icicles. Here is how it’s done:

Coloring Icicles

Icicles reflect the world around them. As weather causes snow to fall, melt, and freeze, icicles form. Sometimes, even when snow is all gone, icicles stick around to remind everyone that winter is still in the air.

These natural creations beautifully reflect the world around them. But there is a way to make them even more special. Once icicles form, color them with food dye.

The blog slowwatermovement.com shows readers the fascinating process of coloring icicles. According to this blog, food dye can be applied to the top of an icicle and move throughout the piece of hanging ice – even in its frozen state.

Watch it work:

How is it Possible to Color Icicles?

As the blog name suggest, this author is fascinated by the movement of water. Upon purchasing food dye, the blogger went in search of moving water in unlikely places. When discovering the food coloring moves throughout icicles, the author credited it to diffusion.

Diffusion is a natural transport phenomenon. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, diffusion is “the process whereby particles of liquids, gases, or solids intermingle as the result of their spontaneous movement caused by thermal agitation and in dissolved substances move from a region of higher to one of lower concentration.”

Using this definition, it becomes clear to see why a highly concentrated liquid, like food coloring, would slowly color the water molecules that exist inside an icicle.

This is a great art project to try in the cold of winter. Although, when it’s too chilly to step outside, consider coloring icicles while curled up in a blanket. The only paint-by-numbers software has icicle patterns that need to be colored. Click here to view Segmation’s variety of icicle pattern sets.

Read more Segmation blog posts about Cold Weather Art Activities:

Create Beautiful Wintertime Memories by Building a Snowman

Icicles

Knitting Is More than an Art, It Is a Cause

Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

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2013 is finally upon us, and accompanying it is the harsh reality of winter. Freezing temperatures, frosty car windows, and chilly houses are all aspects of wintertime. Despite its troubles, winter is a favored time of year. After all, there is much good that can be done with snow, the plentiful resource that winter provides us with. Just one of the many wintertime activities that can be enjoyed when snow is abundant is traditional snowman making.

Making the perfect snowman ranks high on the list of pleasurable winter activities and is perhaps equal to none. How can one make the “perfect” snowman? It’s easier than you might think. Here are just a few tips and tricks for building a memorable, snowy friend:

1. Find your snow — First, you will want to find the right type of snow. The snow you want will be fluffy, not too watery, and at least a couple inches deep. Make sure that the snow packs together fairly easily.

2. Locate a building area — Find a relatively flat area on which to build your snowman.

3. Begin building – Build your snowman by shaping the base mound of snow into a large ball. You can accomplish this by shaping a smaller snow ball with your hands and then rolling it along the snow-covered ground, which will cause it to enlarge. Top that with another ball of snow that’s a bit smaller. Finally, add an even smaller ball of snow to the very top (this will serve as the head).

4. Decorate – After your snowman is built, complete it by adding a carrot nose, a couple of lumps of coal for eyes, and a row of buttons or pebbles for a mouth. Don’t forget to throw a scarf around your snowman’s neck!

Find more snowman building tips at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Snowman.

After your snowman is built, why not host a snowman competition for your neighborhood? Talk to some other parents in town and appoint a couple of judges. Have neighborhood children build snowmen; later, serve hot chocolate and refreshments for them to enjoy as the judges choose the best snowman on the street. That would surely be a cherished memory for many families!

If you love building snowmen, imagine how much you would love creating them in artwork. Segmation offers a snowman pattern set that features all different kinds of wintry scenes. Check out Segmation’s snowman pattern by visiting http://www.segmation.com/products_pc_patternset_contents.asp?set=SNM.

Coming soon: You won’t want to miss Segmation’s upcoming blog post about presidents and their artistic abilities. It may really surprise you to learn which of America’s leaders were also leaders in the arts, so stay tuned!

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